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Ash Foster of Hull FC has sent me an email with the following feedback about my self initiated project:

Hi Ian,

Thanks for sending the link over and finishing the documentary.

On first viewing I have some feedback points which I will bullet point below:

– The content of the JJ Tatten interview is excellent and he speaks very positively about the initiative and Hull FC which is exactly as mentioned in one of our first meetings about promoting Hull FC positively.

– There is a lack of interviews with other people which is partly my time constraints, partly people that were not willing to speak on camera and partly due to technical issues with equipment. I feel that the Mike Smith interview would have added a great deal of value to the documentary but thats an unfortunate accident.

– I feel that there is some great shots that you have got to illustrate the evening events but I feel like it lacks a clear story and links between the images and the programme. The scenes were the bus is driving off and arriving and then the scenes in the lounge before the game, also the cobus advert on the screen could have done with some kind of narration to illustrate the point that it is actually the community champions children that were picking up and then taking to the game and how all these images link to the community champions, even if the narration was in the form of graphics. Also with these shots I felt that some of them lasted a little too long but that may be due to the amount of footage we had I guess.

Overall I am happy with the work and feel like with a few tweaks and some extra footage we could get a great documentary out of it.

My self initiated project has been absolutely invaluable for me in terms of what I have learnt from it, unfortunately it has also been massively frustrating at times.

I initially started by working on the HSAD commission for ABP and Green Port Hull, that never really got off the ground and saw me, however risky it was, having to change project to go and work on the community champions initiative.

When I changed to the Hull FC Cobus Communications initiative it was a risk because I was short on time, however Ash Foster put me very much at ease with regular communication by email, in meetings and eventually by phone.

While I recognise the fact that Ash is, undoubtedly, a very busy man I thought communication, which is vital to any project, dried up too much and I was left very much alone and just expected to get on with the project.

I was happy enough to get on with what I was doing but, because of the nature of what work I was doing, contact with Ash was very important, as he could get me access that I needed but couldn’t get without his help.

I believe I have done a very good job for the community champions initiative,especially considering the size of the task and, unfortunately, the lack of interaction I have had from Ash regarding certain vital factors.

Having said that I know Ash has a very wide ranging role with Hull FC so I should also be very grateful for what time he has been able to give to the project.

Making the documentary about the community champions initiative has been a big learning curve for me.

It has had some definite highlights such as interviewing JJ Tatten at The Warren and filming generic match coverage at Hull FC v Huddersfield Giants which saw Kirk Yeaman reach 350 appearances for the club.

Frustration has come from doing one interview which turned out to be inaudible because of the shotgun microphone and one that didn’t record because I was given the wrong SD Card for the camera I was using.

Much more frustration came from ringing certain people, who shall remain nameless, leaving messages and being told they would ring me back for whatever reason to do with the documentary, and them not ringing me.

I was also supposed to follow Feka Palea’aesina and film him out in the community, however this did not happen which was also massively frustrating.

Because of the constraints I have had I didn’t get anywhere near all the material I wanted to make a really excellent documentary, what I will take from the experience though is that I have learnt a lot and I am very happy, considering the problems I had, with the documentary I have produced.

As part of my self initiated I agreed with Ash Foster that I would start a Facebook page for the Hull FC Cobus Communications initiative because I am very aware of the rugby league presence on there.

As an admin for two rugby league based pages on Facebook, and a member of many others, I see how much traffic they attract and have outlets to share the new one around.

The one that appears to attract the most people is a page for which I am an admin called Everything Rugby League. This is a page that was set up by a rugby league supporter in Australia some years ago.

It currently has an audience of 141,000 and gets hundreds of new followers most, if not every, day. Being part of this team of admins has also given me a very insight into how to run such a page.

A page I set up myself called Loyal Old Faithful is still in its infancy a bit after having only been set up at the end of 2014. It currently has 439 followers and receives new ones fairly regularly and its audience is expanding.

There are other pages of which I am merely a member like Hull FC fans forum and rugby league supporters club that are all in 4 figures for how many followers they have.

The page I set up for the community champions currently has an audience of 160 people, which I am sure will expand as more things get posted on it, especially if I can get hold of Ash and he says yes to putting the documentary I made on there.

The interview with JJ Tatten was extremely informative and his passion for the Hull FC/Cobus Communications Community Champions Foundation, and what it is doing for the young people at The Warren, came across very clearly.

The work the foundation is doing is obviously very important and seems to be doing a very good job of creating a sense of belonging for some of the most outcast young people who, without what the foundation is doing, would have very little to look forward to.

The Warren was given eight season passes for this season and these are used in a sort of rota because so many of the young people want to take advantage of the work that the foundation is doing.

Mr Tatten communicated that they are enjoying going to watch Hull FC play in Super League but that it is about so much more than going to a rugby league match for them, he was very enthusiastic about the legacy that being involved with this initiative will leave.

Having been to The Warren and met Mr Tatten before personally it seems very apparent that the work being undertaken by the foundation is proving to be very positive and influential in a very good way.

I am very much looking forward to seeing how this interview looks in the documentary when it is finished.

I had a very positive meeting with my contact Ash Foster this afternoon which included him signing the client brief which I had written up some time ago.

Moving forward there are some very good plans including upcoming interviews on camera with Mike Smith at Cobus Communications who are the main partner of the Community Champions Foundation, and JJ Tatten at The Warren where many of the young people who are benefiting from the project go.

I am very much looking forward to making big strides with this in the coming weeks including starting to make a documentary showing interviews, generic match coverage and showing how the foundation is working and what benefits it is bringing.

I am also going to start writing articles about the work of the foundation for the official Hull FC website and Ash and myself have now committed to meeting at least once a week from hereon in.

I know exactly what I am aiming for in the next few weeks and what I am doing and I am very appreciative of the help Ash is giving like setting up interviews with people that he is in regular contact with.